Okay, if you're interested in my "Project: Aegis" post over on the Collaborative Corner, this is where you can lay down any ideas that might cross your mind. We've got quite a bit of a start, but anyone is welcome to add to our list of ideas, or post a character sheet in this format:

First of all, I don't want to do a story where it's just spies. We can have undercover scenes, but not just constant. Second, I really want to do an assassination, and I would like to have a character who fits the "butcher" archetype. Other than that, any suggestions? Anyone, anyone at all?

@rhetoric Oh, well it could just be a supporting character. But you know the type - the murderous soldier who gets off on killing, he's reputed to thirst for blood, etc. He/she could be jsut on a lesser degree, but I thought he would make a good antagonist, because everyone will love to hate him.

@Ty694I asked because I may be willing to fill that role. In my book, I'm attempting to make one of my lesser characters a bit of a sociopath, and I need to be able to practice that.I'm going to think about it, but I may take that role :)

@Ty694Now we need a plot. :)So, your character is the first in an elite team for espionage and assassination, but what happens? Do you have any mission ideas? Any plot twists you're hoping to develop? Is their operation run by legitimate people who just want to help the country or are they corrupt and using their power to manipulate people into doing their dirty work?

@rhetoric How many people would sound reasonable? I was thinking, like, maybe 3 others plus you and me? I'll have to get back to you about missions, plot twists and the people running the operation, but I have some great ideas!

@Ty694Okay! I'm excited to hear them! I'll try to brainstorm a little, too. And that sounds perfect, honestly. 5 people sounds good, plus it'll give us all a little time between our /chapters to take a break and let others post.I'm gonna go do some work on my book for a bit, but I'll be online for another hour or two if you need to get in touch with me. :)there's always my profile, but if you want, you can email me:nichole.snyder@live.com

Okay, here's the first wave of possible ideas, in no particular order:-we could do a scene where one of the characters is being held captive and, being used to judging location in the Northern hemisphere, assumes he's facing north because of the sun's position. However, he is in the southern hemisphere, so his assumption is incorrect.

-an infiltration mission leads to some embarassing confusion of identities.

-for a mission, what about a mission to "acquire" some samples of some new North Korean bioweaponry?

-the people in charge could be greedy for recognition, while at the same time really wanting the best for the country, just to mix it up a little and blur the lines.

-a few ideas for scenes (not so detailed in description, but we'll decide that in due time ;) : ever heard of a cliche scene called "what you are in the dark?" -- "berserk button", where someone goes insane upon mention of a certain topic (might mix well with the butcher we discussed?) -- bad guy bar scene -- bond one-liner (when someone is killed, saying a pun about how they died, for example, (After a hearse explodes) "I think they were on their way to a funeral.") -- ring-ring-BANG! (alarm clock goes off, character does something violent to it)

@Ty694You seem to brainstorm the same way i do; using scenes to help build a story rather than a story to develop scenes. :) i like the general collection, but we're going to have to string together an overall plot to make any of it happen. I have never heard of the "what you are in the dark" scene, but I imagine it is used to show the dark side of every character when put in the right circumstances? i also am definitely in favor of the berserk button scene.greedy for recognition sounds perfect. we can work with that.The first idea definitely sounds like a good way to throw a character off his game a little; which is a nice change in stories.The identity confusion one would be a fun chapter to write, but it would have to be well-crafted so that it doesn't make our characters look like they aren't very good at what they do.I'm definitely in favor of acquiring samples of bioweaponry :D that sounds like a great idea.Now, just a general question so i know where to focus my plot ideas, how do these guys live? And by that I mean, how invested in their jobs are they? Do they travel together, bunk together, etc? How much interaction do they have with the outside world? Do they have families, or do they have time for relationships? etc.

@rhetoric It's great that we think the same way about writing ;) that way our ideas will click (most of the time, at least). You are correct about what you are in the dark; it's basically a scene where the character has a crucial choice: do what some outside force wants, which will get him something he wants, or do what's right and deny himself that prize. It is used to show that no hero is (or should be, at least) perfect. For the identity confusion, I was thinking along the lines of either similar physical appearances or similar dress, leading to lots of chaos, and the character has to cover up his mistake, deceive everyone, keep the real person he is impersonating in check, etc, all at the same time. When I picture these guys' lifestyles, I imagine sort of living off the land a little bit, or maybe living as deep cover agents with false identities, which change all the time. I figure they would live separately, or maybe just two or so living together given the right circumstances, but they meet up when given a new objective and they travel together. If you've ever seen the movie or TV show Nikita (the movie is, I believe, "La Femme Nikita"), I thought maybe realationships would go something like that. There's no way they could keep a job like that secret from someone living under the same roof, so maybe inter-agent relationship or no relationship? But I dunno, That would be sort of strange, I think. I'll leave that up to you. Feel free to add new suggestions any time. I figure that on missions, they'd have to provide for themselves (it might seem sort of strange if the person who killed some dignitary was spotted at the local supermarket, you know?) I'll post a separate reply for the details about the bioweapons in a little bit, because it's this detailed description that I wrote out for another book I wanted to write, and it might make this post longer than necessary. But don't expect a huge old thing, I just meant that it might adda significant bit of length to this post.

I actually watch the new Nikita show every week :) It's one of my favorites, though my husband hates it haha. I agree with you about the relationships, I think it's better if they don't really try to keep any of them up.

Speaking of throwing out some ideas, what if a war broke out and that was the reason the elite team was needed at all? I was thinking this because I had a bit of a back-story prepared for my character, but it only works if he's been deployed and captured (which is actually part of a character back story in my book, i want to use it so i can continue to develop it even as i play with other stories). So what do you think about that? Maybe not a crazy war, maybe a covert one? Maybe even a war the gov't doesn't want the people to know about, which could help show the duality of the people giving the missions.

I think having one or two of the guys live together might be a good idea; that way the story continues between them even when there aren't any missions at the time.

Having them live deep under cover with fake names & such that change all the time is a good idea. I can definitely work with that, plot-wise.

About the supermarkets and stuff; this is set a bit in the future so we can tweak regular life a little to suit the story. Example: grocery stores that deliver. That way they don't have to be seen anywhere that public, but they can still have groceries obviously haha.

@rhetoric I love Nikita too, and it's funny, because at my house, the men like it and the girls hate it hahaha!

Anyway, -- Hey! Idea! What if the war is crazy covert, it's like a real war but the public knows nothing about it? Then a plot twist could be a reporter who hears about troop deployments and tries to uncover what's going on!

I think you're right about the guys living together - thanks for helping me decide on that, and I do so love the idea of grocery stores that deliver. It's perfect - again!

Here's an abbrieviated description of the bioweapon, which I picture as just a horribly nasty airborne virus:

This virus is spread by airborne microbes grafted with the virus's DNA, and consists of two stages. During the first stage, the immune system is crippled, and during the second, the victim experiences several symptoms, including:•Mild-severe fever•Chills•Sore throat•Muscle & joint pain•Coughing•Mild fatigue•Nausea•Shivering.In more severe cases, these symptoms can escalate to include: •Severe headaches and weakness•Vomiting•Convulsions•Extremely high fever•FaintingThe most common causes of death resulting from this virus are seizures, the body being literally burned up by the high fever, and complete obstruction of the airway.

Definitely into the covert war idea. Definitely, definitely, definitely.Also, that virus is very cool! I'm glad you didn't go the whole zombie route haha. Nothing against zombies, I'm just tired of all viral weapons resulting in a zombia apocalypse haha.

Okay, so what we have so far sounds good! Basically, there's a covert war going on that the people know nothing about. The gov't creates an elite group of men who are skilled in combat, warfare, espionage and assassination. (They sound pretty deadly, haha). They send these guys out to pretty much keep the war off American soil & keep it as quiet as possible. Among many missions, they're given one in which they are to acquire a bioweapon that is going to be used on the US. This should obviously be their biggest mission; though we should show some of the other missions (at least in part) to develop back story and characters. One or more of the men are captured during this mission. Maybe they're forced to do something?

@rhetoric I agree. zombies are just too overdone. I mean really, come on - just because a virus kills someone that might be important doesn't mean you can't make a "replacement" character rather than do zombies! Right!

I am working on ideas for some more missions, though, as always, I will accept any suggestions. I love the twist of them being forced to do something, as well! The name of the squad is - maybe Aegis Team??

You can post your character sheet any time on this thread or my profiel - whichever is convenient.

You know, I had this idea that I just came across in an old notebook, just to fill our world up with detail: wouldn't it be funny to, somehow, work in a scene where we demonstrate the existence of this "Supernet" (which I wouldn't really call that) - the software for which must, ironically, be downloaded from the internet, even though it's almost like competition for the internet - "Hey, look, our new program's better" - not. - "Just go onto the internet so you can download our awesome software!" - yeah, I'll just go do that.

As far as the rifle, would you prefer a semi-automatic anti-materiel rifle with a rail for scopes and no ironsights or a bolt-action also with the rail, but meant for anti-personnel use?

Micro Uzi makes perfect sense, as do the glocks, though I would go with with the 17C, which has holes in the barrel and slide to compensate for barrel rise (recoil) - this practice is known as porting, which is the easiest way to phrase it.

I am a huge fan of the kukri, and it makes sense given what our characters do. The San Mai is good for really close-up fighting, and I might recommend using the Tanto in combination with it. Lastly, the throwing knives will be great, as you can use them when you run out of firearm ammo, but I would watch your usage if you only have 4, because you'll want to leave yourself at least one for backup while recovering the ones you've already expended. great list, I think my list looks lacking compared to yours, because I just gave him an improbable amount of firearms to use hahaha!

@Ty694I'm glad it sounds reasonable; I've been doing research on this stuff for a while for my own books (i'm pretty much recycling the weapons list) but it's not easy to figure out all on my own haha.

You mean the Glocks 17C? Also, is there a hand gun that's good for rapid-fire? Would a Glock do that?

I do not know what "anti-material" is, let alone how it relates to rifles lol. Also, ironsights? I understand the rail & bolt-action, I think. And anti-personnel use?

@rhetoric Yes, the Glock 17C. It will not do fully-automatic rapid fire as I understand the gun, but it is semiautomatic - every pull of the trigger makes another shot, so it fires as fast as you can move you finger. If you want a fully-automatic pistol, I might suggest the Beretta 93R machine pistol, though it may just just a bit dated.

"Anti-material" is a rifle made for taking out enemy equipment, so think a pretty heavy duty gun here, but in theory it could be used against people. Ironsights are the sights fixed to a gun, where the rear sight is a notch on top of the gun and the front is a metal spiky-type deal - not as accurate as a scope. Lastly, Anti-personnel is a rifle made for shooting people, rather than equipment. So, I guess that's about it for those terms. It is all quite complicated, but I've studied guns for about 3 or 4 years now. You should see my favorites list. I made a separate folder just for weapons! I mean, I'm not like a freak, but I've been studying them for books too.

About this group

For those interested in outlining and discussing specific ongoing storylines.

Sometimes simply using the comments area to refine a story's plot, sending private messages to co-authors to discuss characters, or updating the author guidance with setting information isn't quite enough.

If you have an elaborate, complex tale — be it solo or collaborative — come by the Planning & Brainstorming group to storyboard, outline, annotate, draft, and discuss your work's plot, characters, setting, history, intrigue, or anything that comes to mind.

Please try and keep all discussion topics you create centered around a single work!

Note: The intention is to move all story-related discussions in this group into "Story Wikis" (a new feature, currently in planning) down the road, so please use this group instead of posting new works to discuss backstory/characters/story meta-information.